Say "No" To the HST

[Xen Garden]

Horseh  dont like politics  :P

Lolwut? You be a horse? If so, hello Horsie :D I am not a horse for I have a fish tail! *Splashes water and kelp at joo*

[Duffy]

mmmm, kelp.....kinda salty :P

[Rukario]

Ok, there's an official campaign being spearheaded by Bill Vander Zalm, which has been approved by Elections BC.  The campaign is looking for volunteers to collect signatures.  With 50 volunteers in each riding, that means only 100 signatures per canvasser to stop the HST.

The campaign will run from 6 April and will end on 5 July, and ONLY signatures collected by the volunteers will be accepted by Elections BC.

There are already 1700 volunteers (of which I have just signed up as one), but there needs to be about three times that number.

The website to volunteer is fighthst.com.

(Disclaimer:  I am a member of the federal Liberals (but I wouldn't touch the BC "Liberals" with a bargepole), and of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.)

[Fargo]

Isn't it interesting how two people have voted in favour of the HST, but have yet to explain why they have.

[Silvermink]

Oh duck no, I'm not letting the NDP touch BC after that ducked up reign of poopyness last time.

I say let the conservative party have a shot. As in the BC conservatives that just started running last election.

Regardless, it'll be another few years before we can eject/reelect them.

Eugh. I'm gonna pass on a party even more right-wing than the supposedly-centrist party that's currently in power, thanks.I frankly don't really like any of the options on the table provincially.

That said, I'm skeptical that the HST is going to be the disaster that everyone predicts. The two-tax system is goofy. I don't know if this is the best way to get rid of it, but it's a relic and it needs to be gotten rid of.

Bill Vander Zalm

Kill it with fire!

What's with the wording of the poll, anyway? Ruin BC "more"? Is it already ruined?

[Masozi]

As someone who has seen a lot of bad ideas come from provincial governments all the way back to W.A.C. Bennett, this one is really high on the list.  Then again there is a truth that is coming to light that even a lot of Liberal supporters are realizing, this government totally and unabashedly sucks arse, the worst ever in Canadian political history.

As for the HST they wouldn't have had as many problems with it if they had not decided to tax so many goods and services that are not taxed at this time.  To bring in a new taxation system that potentially streamlines the process of doing business is a good thing. Bringing in a new tax that will add to the cost of living, hurt the poor and exacerbate inflation is plain stupid. However, remember that this provincial government is a far right, corporate neo con oligarchy that has the blood of disabled citizens on its hands. ( As of last week more cut backs to the disabled were made public,  mostly for HIV and diabetic meds. as well as the loss of a 75 dollar shelter allowance and the closures of several social service offices.   NO government has attacked its weakest citizens like this before, not the 1980's restraint era So Creds under Bill Bennett.)   Even the United Nations once issued a statement about its concerns and condemnation of some of Gordon Campbell's tactics.  Gordon Campbell is like those Australian teens who kicked the snot out that Canadian guy in a wheel chair when he was in Sydney. . . cowardly piece of crap! 

People don't realize how seriously we are about to get shoved into the hurt locker by these bullies. There is another increase to the gas tax coming along with the HST. The HST is reportedly going to be applied to the gas tax, (a tax on a tax.)  There is an expected increase to hydro and gas rates coming soonish. The govt is also cutting funding to the arts and for some sports programs, funding to children's playgrounds and school programs. They recently stole money from ICBC to prop up their faulty fudgit budget. (They had plenty of practice in stealing BC Rail so their theft from ICBC doesn't surprise me.)  Gordo has been delaying and interfering in the BC Rail investigations, and the premier's office has been allegedly involved in destroying documentation and e mails.  One of my inside sources who is a published railway historian has told me that if the full details of the BC Rail scandal come to light it will finish this government.
( Can anybody say 21st century Pacific Railway Scandal?  sure you can. ) 

If the HST vote goes well and it is rejected then the next thing should be to start a recall campaign on Gordon "the butcher" Campbell, Rich "I'm better than all of you" Coleman, Kevin "I flew into a window" Falcon and that damned sniveling weasel Colin "Cancer" Hansen. 

There are currently no good alternatives to vote for, why do you all think that the last election had its lowest turn out?  Lack of a good alternative and the constant pro Campbell media using cool looking bar graphs to show they were ahead in the polls. They successfully demoralized the public in a classic divide and conquer tactic that split the left leaning voters. The NDP were a financial nightmare and Carol James just doesn't seem to have the jam needed to slay Gordo the merciless. They also made a huge blunder in hiring Slow Mihota in their ranks, ( major fail to bring in anyone from the 1990's!)  Anyone else? the Green party? nope,  conservative?  Fine but they are  pretty irrelevant right now.

The bottom line is this, its a dysfunctional provincial political landscape fraught with extremists on all sides. The parties are so polarized and so far apart in viewpoints that any sense of co operation over party lines is almost unheard of.   Kithop wrote - " BC Liberal = the new name for the old 'Social Credit', aka the right-wing corporatist McCarthyists." I agree with this,  although  Mc Carthy spent his time looking for communists under every bed,  Campbell is spending his looking for cripples to kill. 

Link to an article on disability cuts -  http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/03/09/DisabledBudgetCuts/

[Ember]

Tell us what you REALLY think, Lope.

[Rukario]

Lope, good assessment of what the Campbell government is doing to BC.  Indeed, the BC "Liberals" are really neocon Thatcherites.  (Can you say "New Labour"?)  Gordon Campbell, Gordon Brown, they're much the same.  But the problem is, there is no alternative amongst the current troupe of clowns.  I couldn't stand the way that El Gordo (the other one) was f***ing up the UK; now it seems I've actually gone from the frying pan into the fire.

[Masozi]

To the list -  Sorry if I came off as being very agitated,  I rarely get this annoyed over what those greasy politicians in Victoria do.  I really get my back up when bullies start to hurt those that have no ability to defend themselves. I live in a place that is part social housing, many disabled people live in this complex. Some of them have showed me letters and notifications from the govt. where their benefits are being scaled back or their access to govt. services are being cut.  I have seen the effects of the cuts firsthand, the worry and fear on the faces of people who don't know if they'll have a home or a province left in the coming months and years.

We are trying to get federal money to rebuild our complex which would ensure a secure future for the disabled residents living here. The things we are hearing from the Gordon Campbell regime sound like an approaching tornado that is about to blow our lives apart.

[Kithop]

Seriously, Lope - when it directly affects you like it does so many people in this province, you have every right to kick and scream about it and make a fuss.  I'm thankful I'm not really in that kind of situation, but I'm still racking up debt while on EI trying to find work in my career (because, you know - they give you just enough to make going down to some place like McDonald's not worth your time, but you're not allowed to go to school to finish your training or pretty much work part-time much at all to actually not spend yourself into debt), so it makes it just that much harder to make ends meet in the meantime.

I can only imagine what it must be like for the multitudes of people even worse off than me - and for what?  What benefit does this kind of crap they pull bring to society?  I thought government was supposed to be for the people, you know - all the people.  Not just the rich, not just the poor, but everyone.  If the tax code is really that bad that businesses see a need to streamline it, that's cool - let's help them out, but not at the expense of the common man, especially those who are already struggling and hurting the most.  Hell, take anything that was PST-exempt and make it HST-exempt, and bump up the HST half a percent on the remainder to compensate (or whatever math magic makes it work so the end-result is the same) - you get your harmonized tax that helps businesses, and you give a break to the poor by knocking the old GST off vital goods and services as well!

Of course, then you get the middle class screaming, but wait - these are goods and services taxes, and the items in question tend to be necessities everyone buys.  Everyone has to eat food, right?  So really you're just increasing the 'luxury' tax on non-necessities while striving to keep food affordable for everyone, rich or poor.

I'm sure that's not the only way to do it, and I'm sure there's likely big gaping flaws in my suggestion, but can we really believe that what they're proposing is the best they could come up with? :/  The BC Liberals have made it blatantly obvious whose interests they serve, time and time again, and it's not ours.  It's sad that they really don't have much in the way of opposition.  As much as I like the federal NDP, I can't bring myself to really want to know what would happen with the BC guys in again (admit it - they royally screwed up, too), and the thought of someone like the Greens getting in, while it would be... interesting, would be throwing a lot on to such a small party that likely hasn't had the time or experience to actually figure out all of it's non-environmental policies. :p  Throw them an issue that has nothing whatsoever to do with the environment so their easy-choice answer is gone, and watch them squirm, you know?

I have a sinking feeling that issues like this are going to be at the forefront next election, and the parties will just polarize into everyone vs. the BC Liberals, votes will get split along the minor issues or who has the best tie amongst those other parties, and Gordo gets in again by default to give us more of the shaft. >.< *sigh*

[KodaOtter]

I know I have voted no to the HST, who wants to be taxed on Food? or being taxed on things we have never had taxes on before? not I. I really dont want to get into a full out talk on this. I just wanted to stay my "Small two cents" and say to to it.

This is why I am Buying a house outright cash so I dont have to get screwed by the HST before it comes out.

and I honestly feel sorry now for people that look to own but will not beable to unless they win the loto :(

[Kithop]

I think most of us have resigned to the fact that owning property outright in Metro Vancouver is a near impossibility. :p

[KodaOtter]

I am buying a place as we speak ^.^,

Then again I live in the waterkin area (Kelowna)

[Kithop]

I am buying a place as we speak ^.^,

Then again I live in the waterkin area (Kelowna)

Ah.  Makes more sense. :p

You know, I've never been further east in B.C. than Chilliwack... not even as far as Hope.  What's it like out there? n.n  I remember seeing the stories of the forest fires and stuff on the news for the past few years, which sucks, but is it fairly built up or still quite small-town-ish?  Would be nice to know if some recruiter sees my resume and is like 'you need to move this way'; I've already had someone offer me a mediocre job in Prince George that I turned down. @.x

[KodaOtter]

Ah.  Makes more sense. :p

You know, I've never been further east in B.C. than Chilliwack... not even as far as Hope.  What's it like out there? n.n  I remember seeing the stories of the forest fires and stuff on the news for the past few years, which sucks, but is it fairly built up or still quite small-town-ish?  Would be nice to know if some recruiter sees my resume and is like 'you need to move this way'; I've already had someone offer me a mediocre job in Prince George that I turned down. @.x

its a big place now. and ya the firestorm of 2003 and the one Last year was a bad one, I was on evacuation in that one. hey once I get my house. maybe you can come up and visit ^.^ you would love it. there is a lot to see and a lot to do if you know where to go :P this is Otter Country up here ^.^ lots of water :P

Add me to MSN if you have it koda.falken@gmail.com